It Was Meant to Be: RenRuki
by FantasticFires
Summary: Shina Hotaru is fresh out of the Soul Reaper Academy, and is assigned to Squad 6. Her squad wants to see what she can do, so they take her to the World of the Living to see her fight a low-class hollow. They end up getting more than they bargained for! In addition, Shina sees the Lieutenant and is interested at once. But he's got eyes for someone else! Action/Developing RenRuki/OC.
1. Chapter 1

**Hi! This is a story from the point of view of an original character. The story isn't going to be strictly about Renji and Rukia's romance, but about the developing of the OC, the friendship between the OC and Renji, her feelings about him, ****_but don't worry! _****There will be RenRuki romance!**

CHAPTER 1

It was meant to be. I'll leave it at that. Trust me, you'll see what I mean.

I'm Shina Hotaru, or "the New Girl", to squad 6. I had mentioned my name when I first joined the squad, but most people on the squad forgot it soon after. Perhaps because my voice had been so quiet when I said it. Maybe there were times when people asked for it again, but my shyness got the better of me any time someone tried to engage with me. Then I met him. Oh yeah, and her.

It all started when I joined up with squad 6. You'd think I'd be excited to join up with an elite squad like the sixth, but to be completely honest, I wanted to die. Or perhaps disappear. Whichever was easier and less painful. The thing was, I had just graduated from the Soul Reaper Academy, and everyone had been so impressed with my skills that I was to be placed immediately on one of the Gotei 13. One of the most praised squads at that. I was a bit excited, I guess, leading up to it, but the morning I was to start on the squad, I honestly thought I was going to collapse and perish. I spent about 10 minutes that morning staring up at the ceiling. _Shina, you can't spend forever staring up there…_ _or could you? _And there went my brain, giving me those tempting possibilities.

I eventually forced myself to get up. It was a painful process, since "getting out of bed" was something that I grimaced even at the thought of. It certainly wasn't something that made "Shina's Top One Million Priorities". My parents used threaten to get a crowbar to force me out of bed. Ah, those days were the days. But, the parents were gone now, taken down by an Arrancar a long time ago. They were just doing their duties as Soul Reapers, I guess. It was their job. Now listen, I never said I didn't miss them, no. But you see, in my opinion there was no point in dwelling on the past. I had become a soul reaper for my parents, a dumb memento for two people who would never know I did this for them.

I pulled on my Soul Reaper uniform and took a quick glance in the mirror. Yep. Just as I'd suspected. Same old, plain old me. I looked ragged. My sandy ringlet curls were frizzy, and there were deep lines under my chocolate brown eyes due to my horrific sleepless night. I tried to push away the curl that hung right over my right eye. As always, it didn't work. It was a wonder I even tried anymore. Looking into the mirror, I thought for a moment. They were having a squad meeting all for me, so that I could get introduced to squad six and such. _Should I feel flattered? _Well, I probably should have, but that anxious feeling of I'm-so-nervous-I-could-wet-my-pants-right-here-right-now was the overriding feeling at the time. I ran over all the information I knew about my new squad (which was pretty much zero). Wait, I'd heard of the captain. His name was Captain… umm… crap. I couldn't remember. _It starts with a K, right? _A "K" sounded right. Uhhh… I had no idea.

It was time to head out. I let a smile dance on my lips as I looked into the mirror. The grin was fleeting. It wavered and disappeared. Another day, another dawn, another tedious morning come and gone. But, this wasn't just another day. It was _the_ day. The day that really changed a lot of things for me.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

My knees were buckling, my palms sweating, brow creasing, eyes watering. All nervous signs. I kept pulling at the loose curl over my eyes, playing with my sleeves, adjusting my Zanpakuto on my back. All nervous habits. I felt like a child. But, this was no different from any other time I'd had to have been within a general vicinity of people. Being around others was not my forte. Let's just say that living under a rock has crossed my mind a couple of times, and not struck me as bad. Don't worry! I never seriously considered it. I'm socially awkward, not a hermit.

I finally reached the squad 6 headquarters. There was no one going in or out. Was I late, or early? I fretted. The sun was still red on the dawning horizon, so I assumed the latter. I nervously climbed the stone steps and pulled at the door, which I was surprised to find was open. There was only one person there. He had long black hair, part of which he kept up in white hairpieces. He was a lot taller than I, and had grey eyes. He was also wearing a white captain's uniform over his regular soul reaper's attire. He turned to look at me.

"Knock next time you enter." He said.

Yay. What a great start. My face burned red. _Stupid!_ _You're so stupid, Shina!_

"You're awfully early." He set down the paperwork he had. "It's only Lieutenant Abarai and I right now."

I felt awkward and didn't know what to do, so I went down on one knee and bowed. I regretted it as soon as I did it, and I wanted to stand. But, I didn't want to look like I had issues, so I just followed through with it.

"I-I'm Shina Hotaru. I'm new."

He looked down at me. His eyes had an icy gaze.

"I see. I'm Captain Kuchiki. Please rise."

I awkwardly raised my head. _Smile, Shina! Smile! _I heeded the little voice in my head and a grin spread across my face. The smile was so forced that looking back on it, I probably looked a little sadistic. My smile fell as I heard footsteps. Great, another person I could make a complete idiot out of myself in front of. This mystery soul reaper entered the room.

He was different.

He had a… warmer feeling than Captain Kuchiki. The Captain's personality was so cold. This person felt friendlier. He was fairly tall, a little taller than Captain Kuchiki. He had several tattoos on his forehead, covered by a white cloth, knotted on the side. I placed my hand on my neck. Much like this man's cloth, I wore a red bandana tightly around my neck, with the knot on the side (oh, and if you're expecting some sentimental explanation to describe why I wear this cloth, don't even. I just decided to wear it one day because it looked good. Sorry, I don't have a teary backstory about it). He had thin brown eyes, and this striking bright crimson hair, tied back into a ponytail. I stood and stared. I hope I wasn't drooling…

What was this feeling? The feeling that I was going to barf my guts out, the self-conscious feeling that everything was wrong with me? The sweaty, hot feeling, the heart-beating-at-light-speed feeling?

Oh God.

It couldn't be.

He turned to look at me. I got that familiar feeling of wanting to die/sinking into the ground/jump off a cliff, etc.

"Is this that girl?"

Shoot. "That girl"? _Shina, maybe if you look at the ground for long enough, it'll swallow right up and you won't have to worry about contact with anyone ever again._ That would have been nice.

I looked up to see Captain Kuchiki nod curtly.

"Yes. This is her. She graduated at the top of her class at the Academy."

The man glanced at me again. The blood all rushed to my face and I looked down. _I know I don't look like much, but it's true! I am actually good at what I do!_

"Hmm. What's your name?"

_HE'S TALKING TO YOU._

"Uhh… It's umm… Shina Hotaru."

_You idiot, you forgot your own name! _It wouldn't have mattered anyway if I had. My voice was basically inaudible anyway.

I was so mortified. When I'd said my name, I'd barely made any noise at all. In fact, looking back, what I said probably didn't come out sounding much like a sentence at all. I'm going to guess that it kind of sounded like the noise a mouse makes when someone is choking it. Yeah, that sounds more accurate, thinking of what was said next.

The guy looked at me. "Your name is… Shiori, did you say?"

I stammered, "N-no! It's Shina."

He nodded. "Oh."

"This is Lieutenant Abarai." Captain Kuchiki said.

"But you can call me Renji." Renji added.

_Renji. _I was poor with names, but I had to remember his. A thousand things went through my mind. I thought of things I should say. I thought of what demeanor I should come across with, ranging from cool and calm, to dynamic and irrational. I didn't know which personality to pick, since I didn't know what he liked. _Do I look OK? How's my hair? Do I look as scared as I am? _Fantasies appeared in my mind, of Renji and me fighting off hollows together, of him and me, of us. So many things were in my mind.

I said nothing.

There was an awkward silence. It took me what seemed like an eternity to gather up enough confidence to say something. I was ready to talk. I opened up my mouth, and-

The door opened. I was peeved and grateful all at the same time. It was a wacky combination. I hated it.

Two people entered the room, both in soul reaper attire. One was a guy, young looking, with dark eyes and short black hair. The other, a girl, with thick-lensed glasses, bob-length light brown hair, and frantic looking forest green eyes. Captain Kuchiki turned to me.

"Shina, this is-"

Listen. Trust me, OK, I feel really bad about this. Remember how I mentioned how catastrophically bad I am with names? Well yeah. It kicked it right _then_. It was in one ear and out the other. The captain said their names and they just slipped my mind. I heard them, but just when I was about to introduce myself, I realized I didn't know what to call them. _Crap!_ I tried to remember how I'd always dealt with this in the past, when I'd instantly forget a new acquaintance's name. Well, I'd always just wait until they looked at me and then muttered my hellos. So I waited until they were looking at me and mumbled,

"Umm, hi. I'm Shina Hotaru."

The two squad members (who I remembered as Reaper 1, the guy, and Reaper 2, the girl) looked at each other quizzically.

Reaper 1: "Well, nice to meet you."

Reaper 2: "…"

I swallowed. As you probably have noticed, first impressions aren't my best thing. What I mean is, I completely suck at them.

Captain Kuchiki broke the awful silence.

"Shina, I'm interested in what the Academy saw in you. I've decided that I'd like to take you on a mission to the World of the Living with Lieutenant Abarai and my sister Rukia, the lieutenant of squad 13. There had been a lot of hollow activity lately, and I'd like to see your skills."

I nervously pulled on my sleeve. _This is it! They can finally not think of me as that stupid quiet girl!_

The captain began to walk to the door with Renji. He looked back and his cold grey stare pierced me.

"Are you coming, or not?


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

The three of us met Rukia outside the squad 13 headquarters. There was a kind of resemblance between her and Captain Kuchiki, with the greyish eyes and dark straight hair, though I had heard Rukia was adopted. Rukia was quite small, standing what looked like a good 20 cm shorter than I. I met her gaze for a moment, then looked down. Ironic. I must have initially looked imposing next to her, but she beat me in a staredown in fewer than a couple seconds.

"Is this her?" she asked Captain Kuchiki.

Oh joy. News of me had traveled past my own squad to the others. Hooray, I was a local celebrity.

"Yes, this is Shina. I'm interested in seeing her skills so I'm taking her along." The Captain answered. I gave a weak half-smile. Rukia nodded. She had a very down-to-business sort of attitude, a strict feature she shared with her brother.

"Let's go then." She said.

OK, there is no way around it. My experience going through the portal to the World of the Living was _awful._ Listen, it's not my fault. It's embarrassing, but I'm actually agoraphobe, meaning that I'm afraid of huge, wide open spaces. The portal to the human world is basically huge, open blackness. I was terrified, trembling as I ran through. My legs were basically gelatin. All of a sudden, my feet completely slipped out from under me. I was so exhausted from running, and the fear was making me weak, so I was falling…

A hand grabbed my shoulder, pulling me up. I looked behind me, my vision still blurred. Even with my temporarily impaired eyesight, I could make out Renji's brown eyes. His grasp made me feel secure, that I wouldn't have to ever worry again, that I would be safe. This feeling… I felt amazing and nauseas all at once. _Never let me go._

"You gotta be careful out here."

That voice… I wished I could hear it all the time, saying comforting words to me. I felt like I was-

A blinding light hit me. I realized that I'd still been running, but I hadn't really been paying attention as to where. Then I knew. This was the big moment. Renji's hand released me. My first time, seeing real, _living _people.

I was… uhh… underwhelmed I guess. I was expecting bright flashing lights, and colors, things I'd never seen before. But frankly… it kind of looked like the Soul Society, except there were humans. Maybe the houses were a little different, I guess. I was a little disappointed, but I tried my best not to show. Suddenly, I heard a voice. Renji's voice. He was right next to me.

"So, what do you think? Nice, huh?"

_It's nice, I guess. I mean, I was frankly expecting a bit more, but I suppose that comes from the fact I had no prior knowledge on this place. I think it's interesting that it resembles the Soul Society a bit. But I'm so happy to be here, especially since I am here with you. I have to tell you, Renji I am so happy that we have been placed on the same squad, because I think you're incredible. I don't know how to convey it to you, but I feel a way about you that I have never felt before about any other. Renji, I knew from the moment I laid my eyes on you, that I am utterly in love with you._

"Uhhh… it's OK." I sounded like a meek little girl. My voice cracked.

"Good! Get ready, the hollows here are tricky."

_Alright. I can't wait to fight these guys with you. I'm sure you're incredible, being a lieutenant and all. I know that you and Captain Kuchiki are anticipating watching my fighting style, but, to be honest, I can't wait to see how you fight. I'm sure you're amazing!_

Me: "…"

Captain Kuchiki was standing with Rukia, checking his soul pager. There wasn't really much going on, so I looked up and mustered up something within me to be able to talk to Renji. So I opened my mouth, and-

He wasn't looking at me. He wasn't even just looking around. His gaze was completely fixated on… her. Rukia. His eyes were filled with this passion, this fire, this feeling. A side of him I'd never seen before. I furrowed my brow. What was this expression he wore? Rukia looked over her shoulder at him. Renji smiled at her. She returned it. She had a pretty smile, especially since this one was genuine. It creased her grey-violet eyes, and brightened her whole face. Just looking at Renji seemed to make all her cares go away, it seemed to lighten her up. Him, too. He suffered the same effects. Me? I stood from the sidelines, watching this exchange of grins. Exchange of… affection… My heart was falling into the pit of my stomach, it was falling apart. All along, I really do think I did know what was developing. But oftentimes, when something happens that you don't want to accept, you lie to yourself, saying "it's not happening… it's not happening…" And, eventually, you so compulsively lie to yourself, that you believe your own lie.

Right at that moment, looking at the both of them, for a split second, for an immeasurably short amount of time, I knew what was going on. But, then came that lying impulse. _No way. They're just friends. You fret too much. You got nothin' to worry about._

I was so glad a hollow came right then. Right as I swore my heart couldn't sink any lower into the depths of my gut, we heard that familiar booming roar. I whipped around, my shoulder-blade-length curly hair flying wild. There it was. It was huge, and white masked, with that distinctive hole in its chest. Its solid yellow eyes seemed tortured and agonized. Its loud steps were coming in our direction. This huge beast glared, as it appeared to be gritting its teeth. To be honest, the idea of fighting hollows had always conflicted me in a way, knowing they were souls once, good souls at that. But, the good thing was, if they were good people in their life as a person, they would be sent to the soul society.

I drew my Zanpukato. I could feel my spirit energy pulsing through me, coursing through my veins. Renji drew his sword, too. He leaned over to me and whispered, "Show Captain Byakuya everything you've got."

Everything?

Even Bankai?

If you insist.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Are you impressed? That I've got a nearly fully-developed bankai, despite having just graduated from the academy? I don't mean to sound like this, but I should hope you are. Basically the only reason the academy was impressed with me was because of my shikai and bankai, since I sucked so badly at kido. I could only get up to about level three kido, and even those were weak. Yeah, I know, pathetic. Shut up, OK! It's embarassing! But seriously though, my skill with the sword itself made up for my failure at spell-casting.

I decided to start the fight with my shikai, and then work my way up to bankai if necessary. It would be impressive if I could dispose of the hollow only using my shikai, but I sort of wanted them to see my developed bankai. For the first time since they'd met me, Rukia, Renji, and Captain Kuchiki got to hear me yell.

"Shatter, Sutoraiku!"

My Zanpakuto changed from its natural silver color to a blood red as I slammed the pointy end of it into the earth. The ground from my sword to under where the hollow stood split at lightning speed. The ground crumbled especially beneath it, the rocks and dirt splitting and peeling away from under its feet. This caused it to fall, and I was over there in a split second, using my flash step, to dissolve it by cleanly cutting through the head. With one last roar, the hollow disintegrated into thin air. When the hollow disappeared, the ground healed itself to the way it originally was. This was my shikai, _Jishin_ (or "earthquake"). It split the ground beneath the enemy, breaking their roots and causing them to fall. Then, I used flash step to easily defeat my enemy before they even had the chance to stand again. This fight lasted a mere 30 seconds.

I was disappointed that I didn't get to use my bankai, but I thought Sutoraiku and I had performed exceptionally just using the shikai. I turned and gave a weak smile to my spectators. Their jaws were dropped, looking as though they could hang all the way down to the ground. Even Captain Kuchiki's expression had changed from his normal disapproving look to a slightly less, maybe-even-kind-of-impressed disapproving look. Renji kept switching his gaze from where I stood to where the raging hollow had been less than a minute ago. Rukia was simply in disbelief.

"Shina… you have quite a powerful shikai. It's a shame we couldn't see your bankai."

_Damn! I knew I should have used it! Stupid, stupid, stupid!_

I walked back over to Renji as I placed my Zanpakuto on my back again. Renji gawked at me.

"Shina. Wow, you're incredible."

I nearly fainted. My head spun and I swore I could feel the earth spinning beneath my very feet.

"T-thanks." I nearly whispered.

"How do you do it? Does it come naturally or just- wow, I can't believe how strong your shikai alone was."

He was actually trying to strike up conversation with _me!_ I could finally really talk to him.

"Well, you see, I just-"

I was cut off by Renji yelling, "Look out!" and diving to push me out of the way of something. We both landed hard on the ground as something massive landed and rattled the earth. It had completely destroyed the pavement where I had been standing such a short time ago. I was seeing double, my breathing and heart rate seemed to off the charts. Renji sprang to his feet.

"Are you alright?" he called down to me.

I opened my mouth but nothing came out. Partially from my terrible shyness, but mostly because I was in shock. What was it? What had nearly just crushed me? I looked up to see just what I had feared I would see.

A Menos Grande.

It crawled out of the broken sky, facing us with its gaunt, pointy face, staring down with rounded red eyes. It was uglier than I'd pictured, since I'd only heard of these beasts. I gaped, horrified, gasping for air. I looked down at my left hand. It was coated in a layer of blood, all scraped up from the pavement. My right hand had a couple of little scratches, but my left hand was a disaster. I tried to grip my sword, but nearly cried out from the pain. It made the bleeding worse, too. I let go as the hot blood dripped down my arm.

"Shina! Your hand!"

I blushed furiously as Renji ran over and grabbed it to look at it.

"I-it's nothing." I insisted, tentatively grabbing the hilt of my Zanpakuto. I grimaced as the blood began to rush down my arm.

"Stop! Stop! Can you heal yourself with kido?"

I looked down in shame. Man, I didn't want to tell him I was a complete and utter failure at kido… so instead, I said, "Umm, my skills are kinda rusty."

He squatted down next to me.

"It's alright. Rukia's a master at medical kido." _Of course she is. _"Hey Rukia! C'mere!"

Rukia took her eyes off the Menos and ran over to me. Renji explained everything to her.

"When I pushed Shina out of the way, she got cut up pretty bad. Could you use some medical magic?"

"Don't worry. I got this." Rukia had this amazing reassuring tone. She sounded so professional that, though I barely knew her at all, I felt like I really was safe. Rukia held her hands just above my injured one and took in a deep breath. Suddenly, a sort of greenish halo appeared around her hands, and my wounds immediately began to close up. This cooling feeling engulfed my left hand, as though I'd just submerged it into a tub of water. It was sweet relief. When Rukia finished, my hand probably felt better than before I'd scraped it up. I examined my healed hand.

"Wow. Thanks." I murmured.

Rukia shrugged, wiping her hands off on her clothes. "It's nothing."

Renji smiled at her. "Thanks, Rukia."

She slowly smiled, her gaze locking with his. Her eyes filled with that glowing happiness again, and that passion returned to his. She replied playfully, "Come on. I said it's nothing." I bit my lip so hard I nearly split it. The roar from the Menos brought us all back to earth. I pulled my Zanpakuto, feeling focused. Captain Kuchiki drew his own sword as the beast lumbered towards us.

"This will be easy." He said.

"Wait!"

Using my flash step, I was in front of him, blocking his path, immediately. In that very second, all my shyness faded away, and was replaced by confidence.

"Captain Kuchiki," I gasped, my words marred by my heavy breathing. "can I take this one? I promise I can get it."

He looked down at me, wearing that now familiar stern expression. After taking a moment to think, he slowly nodded.

"Very well. Show me what you can do, Shina."

I faced the Menos, breathed in, and exhaled sharply. I gripped my sword so hard my knuckles turned white. I raised my Zanpakuto, and rasped out the familiar words.

"_Ban-kai_."


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

If you're not a soul reaper, I presume you don't know what a bankai release feels like. Those soul reapers who have mastered it I'm sure would agree with me: when you release your bankai, you will feel more powerful than you've ever felt before. I had that feeling. My blood was roaring in my ears, my breathing rate escalating. My spiritual pressure was peaking. As soon as I uttered the word, my usually long and medium length Zanpakuto stretched out a little so it was more like a long katana. Also, the moment the last syllable exited my mouth, bright flames exploded from my feet, shooting me up into the air. A thin, wide layer of flames, about the size of a twin sized bed, formed in the air at about chest-level with the menos. On the back of the floor of flames were huge plumes of fire, raging and crackling at twice my height. The flames from my feet shot me up so I landed standing on the floor of fire. My own regular flames could never hurt me, so even if I was standing on this fire floor barefoot I'd be fine. I stepped forward a bit, the fire following. When I was using my bankai, I was able to stand in the air by using my _Hi Yuka_, or fire floor. It also stayed on my feet wherever I walked, ran, jumped, etc., even if was using flash step. The big power of my bankai was that I could throw fire from my Zanpakuto. I could simply throw huge flames or fireballs, but there were several special techniques that I discovered. The only problem was, the special techniques ate up my spirit energy faster.

My brown eyes had an orange glow in the firelight, and my golden-looking hair whipped about in the incredible force my fire gave off. I gripped my sword as tightly as I could, swung it over my head, then swung it back down. A large, spinning, comet-looking fireball was thrown from the end of my sword, and hit the Menos in the neck. Its screeching shook the very ground. I drew my brow and stared intently at my target. I decided to try one of mediocre-strength attacks, my _Muchi o Moyasu _(Burning Whip). I pulled my Zanpakuto back to my side, narrowed my eyes, and let my loudest cry out.

"_Muchi o Moyasu!" _ Let my arms fly forward, as my sword transformed into a whip made of fire. It stretched out, as though it were made of rubber. It reached the Menos, and in the excitement, I closed my eyes. I heard a huge crack, a sizzling sound, and an incredible roar. I opened my eyes, hoping I had sliced the weak spot: the head. I exhaled sharply in frustration. I had made a large laceration just below the Menos' neck. That wasn't going to kill it. But, it was stumbling a bit now.

I thought quickly as it lumbered in my direction; _What's my strongest attack?_ I couldn't decide, so I figured I should just try my most successful attack. Well, in the past, that attack had been _Hi no Tsubasa_, or "wings of flame". This attack had an excellent success rate. Might as well give it a try.

"_Hi no Tsubasa!"_ I cried as loudly and shrilly as my voice would allow. The flames behind me exploded even higher and turned black. They quickly began to transform, twisting and knotting. I felt a slight tickling sensation as the flames began to touch my back, forming two angel wings on me. Within ten seconds, my wings were ready. These wings had the ability to shoot black fire, the strongest form of my fire, as well as allow moving in midair without wasting any spirit energy on my fire floor. I jumped high in the air, opening my wings and catching the air. Unfortunately, the Menos had summoned its own power before I could show off mine. The monster stared at me with its empty red eyes and expressionless face, as it opened up its mouth. Resting between its jaws was a rapidly spinning glowing red ball. I recognized immediately. We'd learned about these: it was a Cero. A destructive, red, lethal force that, if in the hands of a strong Menos, could blow me to pieces. Before I could even blink, a bright red light was flying right at me. I flapped my wings right in front of me, so they wrapped me up, shielding me from the oncoming frontal attack. I felt the force of the impact, so strong it threw me back spinning in midair. The Cero shattered on impact with my fire and turned into a red sparkles, then dissolved. I opened my wings back up, trying to catch some air drift so I wouldn't plummet back down to earth. But, I was spinning too rapidly to fly straight back up. I exercised some options. I had about 9 seconds to come up with something. Then, it came to me. If I couldn't go straight up, maybe I could go side to side. Some lateral action was the only that was going to save me.

I flapped my wings back, then threw them forward as fast as I could. There was a building right behind me, just as I'd planned. I braced myself for impact. I hit the building sideways, and I pushed off of it using a hand and my feet. The hit rattled me, but I stilled tucked my wings in and my head down so I would be faster aerodynamically. Time to use up the last of my spirit energy with a final attack.

I screamed it out.

"_Eien no Hi!"_

Everlasting fire. My final attack. My Zanpakuto, my hands, legs and feet all exploded into my powerful black flame. I felt weaker from the depletion of spirit energy, but felt stronger at the same time.

I knew that my burning whip alone should have destroyed a Menos. They're not smart, they're all brute force. I guess I had just been a little shaky. Heck, it _was _still my first day.

I opened my mouth and let out a cry, for battle, I guess, and threw my wings forward so I was right by the head of the Menos. And, I made one clean cut from the scalp down to the neck. With one final roar, the Menos appeared to evaporate. I fell backwards feeling exhausted. My wings and everlasting fire disintegrated, and with the little energy I had left, I formed a little fire bed (a longer version of my fire floor) to carry back down. I was shocked that the Cero hadn't even hurt me. I could feel the heat, but I didn't have a scratch on me. My hands hurt, but I assumed my lack of focus had caused me to burn myself a bit.

Once I reached the ground, my fire disappeared entirely. I collapsed as I felt as though I had no spirit energy at all. My vision was fading. At least now they could see… I wasn't just a useless, quiet girl.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

My eyes fluttered open, to see the worried face of a woman. She had a kind face, with dark eyes and dark hair, braided in the front. She sat back as I sat up. I said the stupidest possible thing I could.

"H-hello?"

The woman laughed a little.

"Hello Shina. I'm Captain Unohana, of squad four."

_Squad four? The loser medical squad?_ I'd heard nothing but negative things about it. Some people at the academy said they'd rather be eaten by a hollow than be placed on that squad. Of course, I'd assumed that was a little extreme, but, you never do know. My kido sucked too badly for me to be on squad 4 anyway.

"Can I walk around a bit?" I asked gingerly.

Unohana nodded.

"Of course. You're OK now, your bankai just took it out of you. Check back with me tomorrow, alright?"

I nodded back and headed out. I looked down at my hands. They were wrapped lightly in bandages. My black fire must have burned me a little. That only happened when my focus was off, which it was in my fight with the Menos.

I trekked down the hall a little until I heard… I heard… them talking. I paused. I felt as though I could not move, like my feet were strapped to boulders.

Him: "You're incredible. Man, what you can do with that medical stuff… it's really amazing!"

Her: "Oh please, it's nothing. Are you jealous that you can't do it as well?"

Him (flustered): "What? Hey!"

Her: (laughs)

Him: "Anyway, what I was just trying to say is, I think you're really amazing in general. You have great soul reaper skills, and your personality is so… perfect, Rukia. Uh, I think I mean… everything about you, is perfect. I look at you, and there isn't a single thing I would change."

I turned around. I saw the door from behind which they were speaking. I looked right, then left. No one. I crept over towards the door, and turned the knob silently. I opened the door just enough so that I could see in the room. I peered in without them noticing a thing. Renji was sitting cross-legged, Rukia kneeling by his side, leaning on his shoulder. His face was warm, filled with happiness, her eyes were closed, a smile spreading from ear to ear.

Her: "Renji, don't say anything more. I get what you're saying."

Him (smiles): "Oh?"

Her (turns to face him, looks deep into his eyes): "But can you say it? For me."

Him: "I'd do anything for you." (leans into her ear and whispers) "I love you."

Me: "…"

They were both kneeling now, staring deep into each other's eyes. Rukia leaned in first. She threw her arms around his shoulders and kissed him. Renji's eyes widened at first, but then he leaned into her and closed them. I whipped around, the door behind me. My eyes were wide, I was breathing hard. Yeah, say what you like. It technically _was _my own fault for stalking/peeping/spying, etc. But still. Come on. It was hurtful, no matter if I was technically creeping.

I turned around again, my eyes burning, face hot. Rukia was now leaning on him again from the side, eyes closed again, her head on his shoulder. She had that pretty grin again. Renji closed his eyes too, and put his arm loosely around her. He gently kissed her forehead, and she grinned wider. I got up and ran. I was still weak from my bankai, so I stumbled and my head was spinning. Hot tears were running down my cheeks. I went to the front of the building, about to go home, but then I turned around. I wanted to do something first. I slowly walked back to where Renji and Rukia were. They weren't in that room anymore, but I walked a couple meters back and found Renji.

"Oh hey, Shina! I was just-"

I didn't let him finish. I hugged him. Shut up, OK! It was awkward and I looked like a complete numbskull, but I just didn't care. I didn't care if I looked like an airhead, if he judged me, if he thought it was stupid. It had to be done. I squeezed my eyes tight and let the tears roll out, so I'll never know how he looked at me that day.

"Shina…"

I backed off and looked up into his eyes.

"I think you're a great lieutenant and cool guy. I guess I'm just thanking you for that."

I walked away. He was probably confused. Yeah, he was definitely really confused.

Eh, what can I say. It was meant to be. But there is one thing I owe to Renji (besides breaking my heart). Without him, I would have never found my voice. That's a pretty big thing, too, to owe to someone. God, I really am in debt.

**THE END**

**Hope you liked my first fanfiction! ^_^**


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